Enrollment

Enrollment Guidelines

Dear students, 

Welcome to the Math department - we are the only department in the university where you can take a mathematics class. Up to 80% of Berkeley undergraduate students take a class in our department at some point in their studies. As such, the department is committed to serving the academic needs of all students from all majors. With the high demand for our courses it is an ongoing challenge to provide a seat to every student that needs to take a class, so we appreciate your patience and consideration as we assist you!

Please read the following carefully, as it will help you navigate through the process of getting into a Math class. 

Sincerely,

The Mathematics Student Services Team

General Mathematics Enrollment Policies

  • Time Conflicts - the Math Department does not permit time conflicts and will not approve override requests.

  • Section Switches - the Math Department will not perform manual section switches for students; we do not have the bandwidth to accommodate these requests. Students must use CalCentral to perform the switch on their own. If you have an extenuating circumstance and are unable to complete the section switch on your own, we will consider a limited set of exception requests for departmental assistance. Documentation may be requested by the department to support the exception. 

  • The Waitlist & Late Add Requests - Under no circumstances will the Math Department approve Late Add Petitions for courses that had unresolved waitlists. By the 3rd week of instruction, waitlisted students should have a back-up plan in place should they not be able to enroll in the course. By the middle of the 4th week of instruction, waitlists will be purged and student requests to add the course via a Late Add petition will be denied even if a student has been keeping up with all lectures, coursework, quizzes and exams. 

If you are an undergraduate student interested in Math 1A, 1B, 10A, 10B, 16A, 16B, 53, 54, 55, 56 and 110:

  • These courses have two components: a Lecture (LEC) and a Discussion (DIS) section, and you must sign up for both the lecture and one of the corresponding discussion sections.

  • There is a high demand for these lower-division courses. Here are some tips to maximize your chances of getting in: 

    • Sign up early, preferably during Phase 1.

    • Pick a discussion section with the most available seats.

    • Consider less popular discussion sections, such as classes at 8am or Friday discussion sections.

    • If the discussion section you’re interested in is already full, you have to join the waitlist. When a spot opens up in the section, the system will auto-enroll you off the waitlist but with the following exceptions:

      • TIME CONFLICTS
        If you have a time conflict (time conflicts involve not only the timing of lectures and discussion sections but also final exams). Make sure to avoid time conflicts. The Math department will not override time conflicts for students.

      • REGISTRATION HOLDS
        If you have any outstanding registration holds; take care of these before your assigned Phase I appointment.

      • MAXIMUM UNIT LOAD (20.5)
        Unit load max’s also will restrict auto-enrollment (unit max = 20.5).

  • Avoid adding a lecture or discussion section you know ahead of time that you will not be able to attend. If your schedule changes and you need find a new discussion section, here are tips for switching the discussion sections on CalCentral: 

    • If you are enrolled in a course and there is another discussion section with open space, you should have no trouble with the switch (as long as you don’t have a time conflict with that section). 

    • If you try to switch to a full discussion section with a waiting list, CalCentral will move you from enrolled to waitlisted for the course. You will be waitlisted for both the lecture and the discussion section. Your original enrollment in the lecture and discussion section does not guarantee you a spot in a different discussion section that is already full.

    • Your enrollment in the discussion section dictates your enrollment in the lecture. You must be enrolled into the discussion section in order to be enrolled into the lecture. 

    • If you are waitlisted for the course, and you want to change the discussion section, you will need to drop the class and re-add it. Although this will cause you to lose your previous waitlist position number in the lecture, it is important to note that it is space in the  discussion section that primarily drives the enrollment. If you are switching into a discussion section with more availability, you have a stronger chance of becoming enrolled.   

    • Be aware that the "Swap Courses" feature in CalCentral cannot be used to switch discussion/lab sections. "Swap Courses" is only used to switch between courses/lectures.

    • If you switched discussion sections, and the semester has already begun, it is best practice to check-in with your old and new Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) to make sure that any scores you have already received are appropriately transferred.

    • The Math Department is unable to manually switch you to another discussion section. If you have an extenuating circumstance and are unable to complete the section switch on your own, we will consider a limited set of exception requests for departmental assistance. Documentation may be requested by the department to support the exception. 

How do waitlists work? 

  • Waitlists are processed by CalCentral on a periodic schedule, not by the department.

  • Waitlists are processed 4 times a day, and will enroll students automatically based on their waitlist position, importantly, students will only be enrolled in the course if there is space in the lecture and selected discussion section.

    • IMPORTANT: As mentioned above, since waitlists are processed by the system only at 4 designated times (and not automatically as students drop) there are times throughout the day where it may look like there is space in a course. If a student tries to enroll to take that space, they will automatically be added to the waitlist until the automatic process runs through all current waitlisted students (in sequential order) and adds them (if there is space in both the lecture and selected discussion section).  

  • Waitlists will stop processing by Friday of the third week of instruction. If you are still on the waitlist by that time, check and see if there is an opening in another discussion section and switch there. The waitlists will be purged by the Add/Drop/Swap/Unit Change Deadline by the following mid-week. For impacted courses, due to equity concerns, we advise faculty against approving late add petitions for students who continue to take the course after not making it in off the waitlist. 

Possible reasons you were not added from the waitlist: 

  • TIME CONFLICTS
    If you have a time conflict (time conflicts involve not only the timing of lectures and discussion sections but also final exams). Make sure to avoid time conflicts. The Math department will not override time conflicts for students.

  • REGISTRATION HOLDS
    If you have any outstanding registration holds; take care of these before your assigned Phase I appointment.

  • MAXIMUM UNIT LOAD (20.5)
    Unit load max’s also will restrict auto-enrollment (unit max = 20.5).

  • LACK OF SPACE IN DISCUSSION SECTION
    Students will only be enrolled from the waitlist when there is space in both the lecture and discussion section. 

  • FOR COURSES WITH TWO LECTURE OFFERINGS (E.G. MATH 1A-001 & MATH 1A-002) - ENROLLMENT IN THE OTHER LECTURE
    For courses with more than one lecture offering, if you are enrolled in one lecture and waitlisted for the other, the system will recognize you as already being in the course so you will not be added from the waitlist into the alternate lecture. 

If you are interested in taking upper-division Math courses (E.g. Math 104, 110, 113, 128A, and 185):

  • During "Phase 1" of registration, seats in the above core courses will be reserved for students who have a declared major in Mathematics or Applied Mathematics, undeclared students in the College of Letters & Science ( A few seats will be reserved for students in Engineering Science (Energy Engineering, Engineering Math & Stats, Environmental Engineering, and Engineering Physics).

  • All other students can add themselves to the waitlist during Phase 1, or wait until Phase 2 to enroll. At the end of Phase 1 students on waitlists will be added to any remaining seats before Phase 2 enrollment begins.

If you are an undergraduate student interested in taking a graduate course in the Math Department:

 

To submit a petition to become enrolled in Math graduate courses, 

  • Undergraduate students must be in good academic standing. 
  • Undergraduate students must have completed at least two core undergraduate upper-division courses (Math 110, 104, 113 or 185) and received a grade B (or better) in one course and a grade A (or better) in another. 
    • If you have taken an equivalent course at another institution, please submit your external transcripts with your petition
    • For students in good standing, but who do not meet the minimum requirements, we review all petitions and consider grade trends and the overall student profile.
    • If your coursework falls outside these parameters, please contact the instructor for approval and cc enrollment@math.berkeley.edu

Students must upload their transcripts for all graduate courses (and, if necessary, attach the instructor's permission). Petitions without transcripts, a proper email or student ID will automatically be denied. Overall, graduate students have the first priority in enrolling in graduate courses. The department reserves the right to bump up graduate students before undergraduate students. The instructor of a graduate course has the ultimate authority to admit or refuse the enrollment of undergraduate students.

Note that all petitions are reviewed manually and there is a turnaround time to approve petitions. 

  • Petitions submitted during Enrollment Phase 1 will be processed by the end of Phase 1 (at the latest)
  • Petitions submitted during Enrollment Phase 2 will be processed by the end of Phase 2 (at the latest)
  • Petitions submitted during the Adjustment Period will be processed by the Add/Drop deadline during Week 3 (at the latest)

Please take a look at the policies sheet for graduate courses, and submit your petitions here.

If you are non-Berkeley student interested in taking a Math class:

  • Students at local high schools and colleges, UC employees, and others, can take UC Berkeley courses through UC Berkeley Extension's Concurrent Enrollment program. This program allows you, for a fee, to participate fully in the Berkeley class, have homework and exams graded, and receive an official course grade.

  • Select the class(es) you wish to take on your UC Extension Concurrent Enrollment application. Keep in mind that admission to a course as a Concurrent Enrollment student is only possible if all regular Berkeley students have enrolled. Thus, if a course has a high enrollment, it may not be possible to accommodate you, or you may have to choose one of the less-full sections, or wait until it is known whether there will be room.

If you are looking to enroll in Math 49, 196, 197, or 199:

Please note that although we try to process these petitions as soon as we can, during busy periods, our response time gets delayed. To know what to expect, keep the following time-frame in mind:

  • Petitions submitted during Enrollment Phase 1 will be processed by the end of Phase 1 (at the latest)

  • Petitions submitted during Enrollment Phase 2 will be processed by the end of Phase 2 (at the latest)

  • Petitions submitted during the Adjustment Period will be processed by the Add/Drop deadline during Week 3. 

If you have additional enrollment questions not addressed above, please email enrollment@math.berkeley.edu.